Shocking images show life inside Brazilian jails which await English World Cup hooligans

IT'S a far cry from the cells of the local police station back in Blighty.

These are the cells that await English football yobs should they cause trouble in Brazil[MERCURY]

These chilling images show the jail England football fans will be banged up in if they cause trouble at the World Cup.

Italian photographer Giuseppe Bizzarri captured the brutal images of life inside some of Brazil's most notorious jail cells where footy thugs will be sent if violence erupts. He was given rare access to Sao Paulo's most infamous penitentiaries, describing the prisons as "crime universities".

Images reveal the horrific nature of life behind bars at the packed out prison cells, many of which are controlled by criminal organisations.

Giuseppe, AGE, said criminal firm First Capital Command (FCC) control drugs and gun traffic in Sao Paulo, where the Three Lions take on Uruguay in their second group fixture.

The photographer, who has lived in Brazil for 20 years, said: "Brazilian prisons are like a crime university.

"The main criminal organisations connected to traffic organise themselves and then send their plans to the individuals who are outside.

"The reality inside Brazilian penitentiaries changed a lot ever since FCC has the power inside jails in the state of Sao Paulo, where most of the inmate Brazilian population is.

"It is not a coincidence the fact that FCC was born right after the bloody riot of Carandiru where almost all of the inmates in pavilion nine were massacred by the military police.

"FCC is a criminal organisation which has a great support in and outside prisons and it has an influence in the political world and the town halls.

"The FCC has already arranged two riots in prisons in the state of Sao Paulo, where they repeatedly attacked police quarters, banks and other buildings, with a strategic purpose." England take on Italy in their opening group match on June 14 in Manaus before travelling to the more hostile Sao Paulo to face Uruguay.

The conditions inside the Jail are extremely brutal [MERCURY]

Roy Hodgson's men play their third and final group fixture against Costa Rica in Belo Horizonte on June 24 where Giuseppe said fans can expect a frosty reception.

Giuseppe added: "The UN already raised awareness to the prison conditions in Brazil.

"The biggest problem still is the overpopulation of prisons.

"Inmates usually have families and they leave their kids with nothing so wives end up getting in on the crimes as well because they don't know what to do.

"That led to the rise in construction of prisons for women, the majority of which are arrested for drug trafficking.

"One of the most transmitted diseases is tuberculosis which spreads rapidly because of the overpopulation.

"Tuberculosis also spreads outside prisons mainly because most times the inmate does not know he is infected when he comes out.

The prisons were described as crime universities [MERCURY]

"These prisons really are brutal and no-one in their right mind would want to end up there." A prison riot in October 1992 led to military police storming the former Carandiru penitentiary, Sao Paulo, in what emerged to be one of the bloodiest massacres in Brazillian history.

More than 100 inmates died in the massacre, with 102 being gunned down by police and a further nine being killed by fellow inmates.

Twenty-three policemen involved in the massacre were jailed for 156 years each for the killing of 13 prisoners while 25 others 624 years each for the deaths of 52 inmates.

A further 15 policemen were sentenced to 48 years behind bars earlier this year for their part in the horrific massacre.